Greenhuman is an environmental blog site for, by and about green products, people and ideas that affect Seattle, Washington State and the Northwest. Because, while "going green" is a Global vision, the truth is that it needs to happen one human at a time. So what are YOU doing to go green? Tell us – and together we can all find our way to sustainability.

Stock Market shift attributed to Green Investment- Guest Post

21st century green initiatives are sparking life in today’s economy. Particularly, there have been a few major investments in renewable energy technologies that have positively influenced the stock market. In recent news, ProLogis, a leading global provider of distribution facilities has made a tremendous investment in solar rooftop implementation in Southern California. This is one of many enormous green investments following Earth Day 2010, but what type of impact is this really having on our planet and economy?

Totaling 11.1 megawatts, the master agreement between SCE (Southern California Edison) and ProLogis has positively influenced the company’s stock (PLD 12.18, +1.05, +9.39%). ProLogis is able to provide such power through the direct installation of over 45 million square feet of rooftop panels that will effectively power the entire facility. With ProLogis’ enormous facilities and flat roof structure, the project is considered to be “multi-phase,” and will be a progressive installations beginning with nearly 2.5 million square feet. VP of renewable energy for ProLogis states “Our partnership with SCE works well for both parties – we have flat, available roof space and local construction management expertise in place to support the growth of SCE’s renewable energy program.” This is one such example of how electric companies are working with larger organizations to promote sustainability and renewable energy. This is in fact true on a residential level as well; there are a number of instances where a larger home or community of homes directly supplements these energy powerhouses with energy via solar panels.

The exploration and expansion of these technologies has also been a great catalyst for green collar jobs. Field by motivated assistant and creator Doug Band, The CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) has invested funds into renewable energies with “The Energy Efficiency Opportunity Fund” (Sept 25 2009). This was more or less a fund to all the financing of large projects like implementing LEED standards in older buildings. The fund has been focusing on low-income areas to promote the creation of such jobs. ProLogis green sector has also facilitated new job openings and allowed the company to grow tremendously.

Although, renewable energy groups like ProLogis and The CGI aren’t the only types of technology firms that are making a huge impact. Search giant Google (516.16 +23.02‎ (4.67%‎)) recently made their biggest renewable energy investment in history. With projects beginning back in 2007 (Clean-tech fray), Google has made it their duty to pursue such sustainability and renewable energy efforts. On May 3rd a press release went out stating Google’s 38.8 million dollar investment in two North Dakota wind farms. “On Friday we made our first direct investment in a utility-scale renewable energy project — two wind farms that generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 55,000 homes.” Rick Needeham, (Google’s Green Business Operations Manager), wrote within that Google is greatly interested in discovering new opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects that really “push the envelope.” With enough energy to power nearly 55,000 homes, Google is making a tremendous impact on sustainability for our planet.

ProLogis currently maintains solar projects on 32 buildings throughout France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States. The installation envelops greater than 10.6 million square feet (984,800 square meters) of roof space and totals 24.6 MW (Megawatts). With Google’s acquisition of wind turbines in North Dakota, they are able to produce nearly 170 MW of power. Combined, this is a whopping 194.6 MW of clean energy, driven to both business and residential. With lessened maintenance costs and new job openings, these investments are major players in the welfare of our economy as well. It’s with efforts from both energy and non-energy groups that we begin to see hope for the future of our planet.

Some of his Mr. Lundee’s popular posts can be found at greenprophet.com or Greenopolis. He sometimes goes by my pen name James Garver.